Oneshots about anything and everything
by cakecop0
Summary: Oneshots about characters of the gifted! Any character and plot is welcome, just leave them in a comment for the story and I'll type a one-shot up! Just a fair warning... I'm a little angsty. XD
1. Chapter 1

**_Quick author's note before I start: if you have any more ideas for one-shots (or potentially two-shots) that you would like me to do, just comment on the story!_**

Summary _1: Andy walks in on Saige eating ice cream in secret one night, and the only sensible option is obviously for him to join her._

 _oOoOoOo_

It was one of those nights. One of the nights where Andy would wake up with his family on his mind, just out of reach. One of those nights where Andy would feel doubt and frustration all at once: why had he left his family, was he an idiot? And why was he doubting himself now? He must be a coward. In his own mind, Andy could never win.

He and Polaris were becoming closer, definitely, but it had only been two months since they split from the Underground, and she was just starting to make it through the night without thinking of Marcos. That's what she was telling him, anyways.

So on that night, the one where the wind howled and he could hear the busy streets of DC in the background, he sat up in his bed and contemplated what to do. He couldn't go back to sleep: if he did, he would fall back into their old living room. He would be at the park with his family. He would be with his family.

And he wasn't allowed to divulge in that luxury anymore.

It was his feet that carried him down the long hallway, and he made sure to avoid Reeva and Esme's rooms. They hadn't shown any animosity towards him, but he still wasn't comfortable around them. His mind still harbored the idea that they were dangerous, even though he was now dangerous for the exact same reasons.

And then he heard it.

A small shuffling sound, and then quiet, like someone was sitting down. A lid popped open around the corner and so did his curiosity. If someone made a noise in the underground, it was because some people (like Thunderbird) never slept. But here?

They all went to bed at 8 am, and they all woke up at 6.

He turned the corner and was surprised to see Saige leaning against the blue colored wall holding a huge carton of ice cream. She looked up when Andy turned the corner, but seeing that it was just him, she started rummaging through her bag.

"What are you doing?" He asked. His voice felt hoarse, almost empty. Was he getting a cold? He didn't really know how to react to that now that it didn't mean sick days and his mom taking care of him.

Saige tossed a spoon at him and he caught it, his reflexes on hyper mode ever since Reeva demanded that they be.

 _You'll regret it when you can't catch a knife that's racing towards your eyes._

"Having ice cream. I'm tired of eating fruits and vegetables."

"Said the person with super smarts." Andy remarked, though he slid down next to her.

Saige was quiet for a minute and Andy pulled the carton out of her hands. He wasn't a particular fan of Rocky Road: there were too many nuts. But he was so desperate for something sugary that he wolfed down two spoonfuls before remembering to breathe.

He was aware of how quiet it was. "Andy..." Saige said, turning to face him. She looked calm, but Andy had been around her long enough to know that there was a storm in her mind. "Did we do the right thing?"

 _"I'm sorry John. They destroyed the Hound Program. This is just a matter of survival."_

He didn't know what to say. He really, really didn't know what to say, and that scared him.

 **"Wrong and right are overrated."** He said finally, staring back at her. He was fed up with wondering if he did the right thing. Who cared if it was right? He believed in the goal they were trying to reach, and the Inner Circle was nowhere near as violent as everyone had made it out to be. A small part of him had feared he'd be a murderer by now, but he wasn't. And that threw him for a loop: they weren't right, and they weren't wrong.

They were fighting for the same thing, him and Lauren.

He just had to hope they'd get to the same destination.

Saige laughed next to him and he sighed, realizing how cheesy he must have sounded without context. His eyes were sagging and he was beginning to feel tired again, but the rush from eating contraband and talking to someone going through the same thing as him was exhilarating. "You're the one with super smarts!" Andy said, a bite to his words. "Maybe you should answer that question!"

Quiet again. Every conversation with Saige seemed to be stilted, like she had to think through her next words continuously. She could never just talk. That wouldn't happen, and there was reason behind it. But Andy could never be as calculating as her- he was too hotheaded and he felt things too violently.

"Smarts don't help you when you really need them." She said, capping the ice cream. Andy's stomach hurt and his fingers were freezing, but a small immature part of him was still miffed when she pushed it away. "The truth is... what we choose to do is rarely the smart thing." She tilted her head up to the ceiling and sighed. "Leaving the Underground was smart-... technically. If we left, we were promised safety. The underground couldn't promise us anything."

 _"Safety."_ Andy said, repeating her words. _"Is that what this is all about to you, Saige? Being safe?"_

Her eyes narrowed when she turned back to him, and she opened her mouth to refute his claim. He could see the fire in her eyes, but Andy knew where it was directed, and he knew that like all fires, it would eventually die out.

Saige's eyes could burn anywhere.

Quiet again. Andy couldn't say he was a fan of it. "No. Yes. No. What's the right answer to that?"

Andy uncapped the ice cream and shoved his spoon back in. His eyebrows were drawn when he did, and he honestly didn't care that it would wreck his stomach in the morning. He had been training every day for two months. Pigging out on ice cream wouldn't ruin that many days of hard work.

"You know... when I first saw you, Andy, I thought you were cocky."

He hadn't been expecting that. Andy turned to look at Saige, expecting her eyes to meet his. But she was looking at the ceiling again, her legs tucked under her arms. "I mean, you had all the signs. You were quiet and frowned at everything. You only looked happy when you showed off your powers. You got hot headed a lot."

"But then I realized it was because you were trapped inside yourself. You were screaming and you didn't even realize it. You joined the Inner Circle for a good reason Andy. And it was a good choice for you, so who cares if it was the right one?"

 _Saige turned around. Her eyes landed on Andy and she was surprised to see him asleep, leaning against the wall. He was in a non-sleep position, his arms were crossed over his chest and he was sitting criss-crossed. His head was lolled down, which suggested that he had nodded off without even realizing it. Saige laughed to herself and stood up, resigned to go look for a blanket._

 _"You were right." She said, looking over her shoulder. "Right and wrong is overrated."_


	2. Chapter 2

**Here we are, folks:**

 ** _Guest (I LOVE their name)_** : Asked for Reed and Caitlin when Lauren is born. So here we go!

"WHY ARE YOU SO SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWW?!" Cate cried, digging her nails into the arm rest of her car seat. Her pregnant belly was pushing against the dashboard and her eyebrows were knit together like two caterpillars. Her normally pristine hair was matted and knotted together at some points. A thin layer of sweat covered her features.

Reed pressed down on the gas as much as he dared to. The hospital was only a few minutes away, but Cate was already breathing heavy and he honestly wasn't sure if she'd make it. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Everything Cate said turned into a howl, and Reed winced whenever she did.

He felt like he was failing her by not breaking the law and going 180 in a school zone.

A red light. A freaking red light. He tried to honk, tried everything, but the fact was that his way was blocked with cars. He couldn't zoom past and be a hero even if he tried (and he really wanted to). Cate turned to face him, and her eyes were kind of twitchy when she said: _"I'm not having my baby in a dirty car, Reed."_

Green light. He pressed down on the accelerator, a little too hard, and cursed the traffic camera they zoomed past. His hands were clenched on the wheel as he listening to his wife howl; every so often he would say encouraging words, but Reed was mainly focused on getting them to the hospital in one piece. His hands were shaking, his arms were shaking, and he too had sweat dripping down his head.

 _They were having a baby!_

Reed had dreamed of this moment. When he first found out Cate was pregnant, it was all he could do not to name the baby in the first trimester. They had decided to keep the gender a secret and thus made a name for each gender: Lauren if it was a girl, Andy if it was a boy.

"I want a Lauren!" Cate had shouted one morning, high on pregnancy hormones. She was eating cereal with a fork, and Reed had never loved her more. "I want our girl to be Lauren."

"What if it's a boy?" Reed had asked back, shifting through their drawers to find a spoon for Cate. "I was thinking Andy. After my great grandparents, you know?"

This gave his wife pause. "Wasn't it Andrew?"

Reed shook his head. He was pretty sure it was Andy... and he didn't really know much about his grandparents anyways. His dad had never talked about them, and he never really talked to his dad anymore. "Nope. Andy."

"As long as she's a Lauren!" Cate said indignantly, stabbing a clump of cereal with her untensil. Reed walked around the counter and kissed her on the head.

"Of course."

Now Reed was racing in his car, and when the hospital was within sight, he hit the pedal, almost made it to the next green, and-

sirens.

Freaking sirens.

Cate groaned. "I'm walking to that damn hospital I swear to God Reed holy shit this is painful motherf-" She wasn't even speaking in full sentences anymore. Her eyes were bloodshot, and a fire was burning in them. When the police officer walked up to their car, Reed tensed when Cate lifted her hand.

Was she actually going to give a cop a middle finger?

"Are you aware of what speed you were driving at?" The officer asked, leaning down so his elbows were on the window. Reed was irked, to say the least, couldn't he see that they were in a time-sensitive situation? "40 miles above the speed limit, are you aware you're so close to a school zone si-"

 _"Listen to me. I'm having a baby in five minutes. So either you stand hear and watch the miracle of life, or you let me and my husband into that damn hospital."_

The police officer backed up in surrender, and Reed sped off. They made it into the hospital parking lot when contractions were two minutes apart, and she was in a wheel chair when the baby was ready to come out. Reed tried to run off after her, but she was being wheeled into an emergency room for a c-something or another. Reed's head was swimming, but he knew he should be concerned. That couldn't be good, right? A c-something had to be dangerous if it was named after Reed's least favorite letter.

"I demand to see my wife!" He yelled, almost hysterical.

Needless to say, the fourteen year old with a swollen wrist did not know where his wife was.

A nearby desk nurse did, though, and after much lawyer-ing on his part, he managed to get the number of the room she would be in after her surgery- he gulped at the word surgery- and was there when she finally came in.

She was holding a baby.

His baby.

Their baby.

It was a girl, and when Cate was wheeled in she let him take their little girl without a second thought. He swept the little baby and held her close to his chest, as if she would float away. It was too good to be true. Cate was exhausted from surgery, Reed was probably going to jail the next day, but... they had their baby. And that was keeping them both standing (Cate was in a wheelchair, but you get the point).

She had stubby blond hair and beautiful eyes. She looked so much like Cate that it was scary, but in a good way. Reed didn't think he had ever loved a little sack of flesh and bones more. He was surprised by the sudden flood of emotion; by the fact that he was ready to lay down his life for this little girl and he hadn't even had a conversation with her yet.

"I'm going to be a good dad." He said finally, staring at Lauren. "Not like mine. Mine sucked."

He could feel Cate tense next to him, and he knew that he should give Lauren back, at least for the time being. He kissed the little girl on her forehead and sighed as he gave Lauren to her mom, already feeling detached. Like he had nothing to do with his hands.

"I love you so much. You're going to grow up so beautiful and amazing." Cate was crying. Reed was crying. When had he started crying? Probably when he saw Lauren for the first time. That was easier than admitting that he was crying in front of a police officer.

The three of them couldn't be separated (except for when necessary). Reed took days off of work and Cate was stuck on bed rest, but the two of them couldn't have been happier if they tried. They always laid down with Lauren in between them, and at eight ounces, she was the cutest thing they had ever seen. They liked playing with her little fingers and nuzzling their noses against hers. By the second day Lauren had her laugh, and it was the cutest thing they had ever heard. Reed recorded it and made it his ring tone, nevermind that those who didn't know him personally would be a little disturbed.

Cate recovered quickly. She was a nurse herself, and over time the people at the hospital grew to ignore her when they checked in on her vitals. Cate was doing fine, but she always had to make sure the baby was okay too. She asked about Lauren's heart rate, whether or not she was getting enough nutrients...

And behind all that, the fear that she had done something wrong, and her baby wasn't healthy.

But she was, and Cate had done nothing wrong. They were both perfect.


	3. Chapter 3

A chapter on Reed! Enjoy...

Just because Reed was used to the headaches- to the constant pounding in the back of his head and the shrill whistle that seemed to follow just behind- that didn't mean he enjoyed them. At that certainly didn't mean he had figured out a way to fend them off, or prevent them from happening. He did notice a pattern, though: they always seemed to happen when his emotions spiked.

Reed and Cate had a fight. They were both tired from looking for Andy for over three months, and Reed was starting to lose hope. Cate was upset, and she was hurt, and she was angry. She accused him of not caring about Andy in the first place, and Reed accused her of caring about him more than himself and Lauren.

Now he was lying down in their bed (alone), trying to stop the thundering headache (alone) that reached his head withing moments of Cate's departure. He tried to close his eyes and keep his breathing slow and steady, but he found himself holding back a scream within a few minutes.

He had to face facts: something was really, really _wrong_ with him.

Everything was sliding out of focus and his breath was coming in patches instead of evenly. For a few seconds the headache would become bearable, and then suddenly a tidal wave of agony would crash right behind his eyes and he would scrunch up again. The blankets were twisted by the time he opened his eyes; they were curled up in a ball around his legs.

He was facing his pillows instead of the wall opposite his bed, and couldn't quite remember how he had gotten to that position.

Reed slid off his bed for some water, and just as suddenly the headache came back. He grabbed onto the edge of the bed and kneeled down, trying to hold in his screams again. " _Godammit_." He said, the words sliding together as the pain shook his world in and out of focus.

The smell of smoke and his headache receded instantly, almost like someone had flipped a switch and he was normal. He opened his eyes slowly at first, afraid the dim light next to the door would trigger his migraine.

His eyes were fully open, and once he was sure the headache wasn't coming back, he finally noticed the smoke. Reed put his right knee down on the ground so he was sitting next to his bed, and that was when he saw it.

A huge chunk of the bed frame was melted off, revealing a red layer of glowing embers on the surrounding mouth. Small puffs of smoke seemed to escape the hole, almost like the wood itself was crying for help. He looked down at his hands, and when he noticed they were glowing red, trailed down to his arms, which were also...

not normal.

His normally discrete veins were bulging out of his arm and red. Some ooze like substance seemed to be snaking it's way down his arm slowly, almost like it was a snake living inside him. Reed wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it.

 _Shock._

He was vaguely aware of what that meant; he knew in the back of his head that this wasn't an accident, a freak occurrence that could be cured with a few aspirin and a quick MRI. He was a **mutant**. All of the pain he went through to suppress his X Gene... and it still hadn't worked.

"Dad, you-"

Footsteps. He turned around and Cate was standing in the doorway, an upset expression on her face. Her eyebrows were knit together and blue bags sat under her eyes. Cate's arms were wrapped around her sides protectively, and the sleeping back in her right was obviously a source of embarrassment. She was holding it out of his eyesight, but he saw it anyways.

Reed flipped their duvet over the busted bed frame and grimaced as Cate walked over, not giving him the chance to make eye contact.

"Coming back, are we?" Reed asked, trying to hide the shaking in his voice. He wasn't really upset with Cate, not anymore, but anger was better than fear.

"I couldn't sleep. You should've been the one to leave." Cate said finally, a bite to her voice.

Reed crawled into bed next to her. He knew he should tell her. They were fighting, but she would still help him. He could trust her. "Why would I leave? Running away doesn't solve anything."

Cate stiffened next to him and he sighed, knowing that was a low blow. "I'm sorry Cate."

A few seconds of silence, and then she turned to face him. "Me too. I'm just so worried about-"

"I know."

"Do you think we'll find him?" Cate asked, grabbing his hand.

Reed nodded, but at his core was the deep fear that when they found him... he would be past the point of fixing. He would be so utterly brainwashed that he couldn't be turned back. That they would lose their son forever.

And then he would lose Cate.

"Goodnight, honey." Cate whispered, curling into him.

"Goodnight."

Maybe he'd tell her tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

This chapter is focused on Andy learning from Reeva. Sorry I haven't been updating recently, but I've been pretty booked with schoolwork.

Andy was nervous the first time he went into the training room. For one thing, the room itself was downright intimidating. A rock wall on one side and a tilted metal one on the other. Not to mention the hunger games like glass viewing room that Reeva seemed to enjoy standing in. The first time that he entered the room, he had the distinct impression of being a little kid and, most of all, being afraid.

He would look back and realize that was exactly what the room was designed for.

Reeva was sitting in the room and crossed her arms behind her back. Andy noticed that she was wearing a plain outfit today: dress pants, a plain white shirt, and a simple charm hung around her neck.

"Alright, Andy. In front of you you'll see a brick wall, a concrete wall, a stone wall, and a titanium wall. We want to test your powers for today, just to see what we'll need to work on in the future." It sounded simple enough, but Andy noted the 'we' when they were the only two people in the room.

The brick wall suddenly entered his field of vision and Andy jumped back at the sight of it. Hadn't the room been empty moments before?

Andy's questions were stifled when he reached inside himself. He once let his guard down and told someone he cared about what his powers were like: screaming and letting out what you had been too afraid to say.

The fifteen year old had been screaming for a _long time now_. Today was no exception.

He raced forward and threw his hands back. Whenever he used his powers, his brain seemed to detach from the rest of his body. There was the goal, and then there was the way the goal would be accomplished. Andy wasn't very experienced with his gift and had to focus if he wanted a material to split exactly right. He had to picture each individual molecule falling, falling, falling...

But this was just a test for how hard and fast his powers could go. The brick wall split in half in front of him with a sickening crack, and what was left over teetered as if being blown by a hurricane. There was a gaping hole in the red and white structure. Not human shaped, he realized, but more the shape of a door.

Andy ran through and watched as the stone wall came closer and closer. His breath hitched as he allowed his powers to take the rein, and the next wall disappeared with barely a trace. Dust settled all around the boy as he pushed forward.

Using Andy's powers was like taking five shots of espresso and getting hopped up on adrenaline. All of his life he hadn't realized the power that was just within reach of him, and when he did?

 _"Dad hunts people like us."_

The concrete wall split in half. Andy's right hand burned, but he didn't bother looking down. A chunk of concrete was probably embedded in his thumb or palm. That, or the sheer force of his powers had snapped back at him. Either option wouldn't have surprised him.

He skidded to a stop in front of the titanium wall, listening to the sound of his sneakers pushing against the smooth floor.

 _"The X-Men are gone. We're not little kids anymore."_

How long had it been? A few weeks? The day after he left, Andy was hoping his family would find him, and a very small part of him was hoping his family would take him home. Force him to leave. He wanted them to come quickly so the break would be less messy, but...

Damnit. He was totally involved now. And he was stronger, and better, and braver, and-

Pain in his right shoulder, shoving against him like a freight train. His brain became muddled as he tried to grasp what had just happened. He didn't remember using his powers on the titanium, and certainly didn't know how he had ended up lying on his back with stars in his eyes. He knew he was in pain, but he didn't know why.

Andy's thought process wasn't kicking in like he assumed it would. He could hear people walking towards him, but every time he tried to stand up, his body just seemed to forget what it was supposed to be doing.

Strong hands lifted him up. He was sitting up, and he was pretty sure Reeva was standing in front of him. And Polaris. When had Polaris gotten there? Reeva was the only one in the training room, wasn't she?

There was a metallic taste in his mouth. Andy leaned over and coughed out blood, cringing at the darkness of it.

"A-dy, a- yOU okAy-?" A voice said. Andy shook his head once, twice, and that helped clear his vision.

"'m fine." He said, forcing himself up. Every muscle in his body ached and screamed for him to sit back down, but he forced himself to steady and survey his surroundings. What had happened?

All of the other walls were destroyed behind him, and to Andy's surprise, the titanium wall was thrown inward.

It wasn't broken, but the two halves of the wall were bent backwards so that they formed a V that's tip was facing away from them. The sheer force of the pressure must've pushed the material to it's limit, and if Andy weren't teetering on his feet, he would've smiled and thrown his arms in the air.

He used to do that a lot at home. Lauren would laugh at him, and if she were in a good mood, would mimic his gesture and they would form a bridge with their arms. But then reality caught up with Andy, and suddenly he would come home angry. Angry at himself, at the world-

Somebody grabbed under his right arm and he turned around. "Hey. When'd you get here?" He asked, wondering when Polaris had shown up. He vaguely wondered why Polaris had shown up. And why had Polaris shown up? And why was she here? And where was Polaris?

"Andy!" Somebody shook him and his vision cleared completely. Reeva was staring at him, and her eyes were narrowed. Andy expected disgust in them, but instead some other emotion seemed to control her entire face.

Andy's was burning. Had he really hurt himself training? What the hell? What the actual hell was wrong with him? If they hadn't seen him like a little kid, they would now.

He pushed away from Polaris's grip and stalked backwards. "Andy, where are you going?" Polaris asked after him. He walked out of the training room and she followed as he went up the stairs and into the living room.

Andy went to the coffee bar and poured the cup as far as it would go. "Was that as embarrassing as it looked?" He asked, rubbing his hand through his hair. Polaris grabbed her own cup but didn't respond. For a few seconds they stood there, and Andy briefly remembered that he and Polaris weren't really friends. They hadn't really been close at the underground. She probably wasn't laughing at him because she-

"You're fine, dude. I don't think Reeva was upset. But what happened in there?"

"Ugh. I don't know. I got caught up in my thoughts, I guess. I kind of spaced out while I was using my powers."

"...Well it was pretty cool. I've never seen an ability like that before."

"Hmm."

It wasn't until later that evening that someone knocked on Andy's door. He was in the middle of a gaming session. He shut his computer off before taking off his headphones and opening the door. Esmee stood in the frame and looked him over. "Reeva wants to eat dinner with you."

That took Andy by surprise. Dinner with Reeva?

He was confused, but the fifteen year old understood that he didn't really have an option. As he walked down the hall he thought that they would probably be eating at opposite ends of a thirty foot long table. There would probably be a vase in the middle, and two wooden chairs. She was probably inviting him to dinner to scope him out. See how he would break.

To his shock (and relief), Reeva was waiting for him in the kitchen. He had expected that they would bring their food out, but Reeva was sitting on a barstool with a glass of water and what looked like a ripped apart sandwich.

Andy pulled up a bar stool to the other side. For a second she didn't say anything and he contemplated whether or not he should greet her. He was about to say something along the lines of: hi Reeva, what's up' when she looked up from her plate and (sort of) smiled at him.

"Hello Andrew. Thank you for coming."

Andy nodded. "No problem."

"I wanted to discuss what happened at the training room today."

Andy winced. If Reeva noticed, she didn't say anything.

"I wanted to say that I get it, I really do. I know what it's like to leave someone you care about behind, especially when you're not sure if you're doing the right thing."

She took a sip of water and seemed to get lost in thought before continuing. "I wish I could tell you that what we're doing is definitely the solution, but in truth I'm not completely sure. All I know is that mutants deserve to be safe, to live in a world where they are celebrated for their differences, not destroyed. And I feel like you can help me do that."

Reeva started on her plate again and Andy stared down at his. For the first time in his life, Andy was dedicated and a part of something because he wanted to be. Because he chose it.

And damn it if that didn't feel good.

* * *

 **First off, let me start by saying I'm sorry I haven't updated that much! As I mentioned before, I've been concentrating mostly on my school work. I haven't given up on this and will still respond to your requests for story ideas, so whatever you want to see I'll try to accomplish.**

 **Second, I really am not a fan of this chapter, just being completely honest. I wrote half of it two weeks before I finished it, so if you kind of sense a disconnect between two parts of the chapter, then that's probably why... *shrugs* I kind of struggled through writer's block on this one, so I'm a little worried that it came off cheep or stilted or forced or anything like that. Dare I say... trite (uses fancy word, imagines wiggling eyebrow cartoon in background)**

 **So please A) Write in the comments if there's some improvement I can make (I have thick skin, I'll get over it), but nicely please 2) Warn me if I'm going off character ! I cannot stress this enough, but I am writing these chapters so that other people will read them and (hopefully!) enjoy them. If I'm not on character for a chapter, then it kind of... sort of... loses its meaning. Just let me know :)**


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